Community Talk

Hi guys,

I'm a little new to the Juniper product line so will be asking some quesitons on here over the next couple months.  Your help is appreciated.

I have 2 juniper products - 

An SRX240H running JUNOS and an SSG140 running screenOS.  

From looking around, it seems JUNOS is newer than screenOS, correct?  However, the SRX240H appears to be EOL and EOS but I didn't see any such information for the SSG140, so I'm assuming it can still be supported by a contract?

I was thinking of taking the SRX240H out of production and replacing with the SSG140 and obtaining a contract - but would this be a backwards step (assuming JUNOS is newer than screenOS)?

Also, would there be any cluster capabilities between an SRX240H and an SSG140 or must the 2 products be the same model in order to form a cluster?

From looking around, it seems JUNOS is newer than screenOS, correct?  

Yes, there are two firewall software platforms ScreenOS and Junos.  Juniper bought ScreenOS in the Netscreen aquisition and has been migrating these firewall features into the main Junos code since that time.  Junos will eventually have all these features as a result.

However, the SRX240H appears to be EOL and EOS but I didn't see any such information for the SSG140, so I'm assuming it can still be supported by a contract?

 The SRX240H PLATFORM is NOT EOL.  Only some specific VERSIONS of early release hardware are listed on the EOL sheet.  See these highlighted statements in the EOL notice.

Juniper will sometimes discontinue regional specific or hardware special version long before the primary project line.  Attention to detail in the EOL notice is important, or your Juniper partner can help in identifying EOL hardware.

The Integrated Convergence Services (ICS) solution consisting of the Branch SRX Media Gateway products SRX210H-P-MGW, SRX220H-P-MGW SRX240H-P-MGW, SRX-MP-VA04, SRX-MP-VA04, SRX-MP-VA22 is being discontinued immediately, and removed as a supported product. These products were in early access, but not launched.

http://kb.juniper.net/InfoCenter/index?page=content&id=TSB15488

I was thinking of taking the SRX240H out of production and replacing with the SSG140 and obtaining a contract - but would this be a backwards step (assuming JUNOS is newer than screenOS)?

 The SRX240 has generally higher specs than the SSG140 so I would stick with the SRX in this case unless there is some ScreenOS feature that you need not yet migrated.

Also, would there be any cluster capabilities between an SRX240H and an SSG140 or must the 2 products be the same model in order to form a cluster?

 In both ScreenOS and Junos clustering you MUST have the IDENTICAL hardware for the clustered pair.  And the clustering technology is different between ScreenOS and Junos so they would not be compatible in any case.

Thanks for the full breakdown - really appreciate the guidance.

I have both screenOS and JunOS in my environment so it's really a big learning curve on both fronts and I want to be able to maintain usage in my network.  

What are my options for obtaining a support contract?  Looking for something that's cost effective as I don't have a big budget at the moment.

Any help is appreciated and thanks again!

It depends on what you mean by support contract.

Basic Hardware & Software Break/Fix Support

Juniper support contracts generally cover hardware and software support but have a number of options.  There is a table on page 11 of this pdf that outlines the support levels.  This mostly revolves around the inclusion of hardware support and how fast you get the advance replacement of your hardware.

http://www.juniper.net/support/guidelines/990216.pdf

These cover JTAC (Juniper Technical Assistance Center), which allows you open tickets on issues and get support for issues or some configuration problems.  And then replacement hardware as determined by the JTAC engineer.  You choose the level and then a 1-5 year period.  These can be purchased from partners or on-line retailers.

If the device has expired on existing support, you also need to go through a reinstatement process and fee.  This basically prevents people from not purchasing support then buying a contract when the hardware fails.

Consultative or hands-on maintenance support

If you need more than break/fix support, you would contact a Juniper Partner and discuss your options.  If you go this route you can also get the break/fix through a partner at a reduced fee.  This is because you cannot access JTAC directly but the partner does so as needed on your behalf.  So they essentailly take the low level issues off of JTAC.  These will all be basically custom deals to fit your needs.

Thanks for your help/guidance on this and happy holidays!